3

I just put my 3-year-old to bed for the last time.  In the morning, she'll be a 4-year-old.  Bittersweet.

Three seems to get a bad rap.  I think I've mentioned on here before than when working with other people's kids, I have found 3 to be one of my favorite ages.  Numerous friends assured me that it would be different when it was my own child being ridiculously stubborn and emotionally (and physically) out of control.  And we definitely had plenty of awful 3-year-old moments.  Becca is not a mellow kid.  :)  But 3 has also been, by far, the most entertaining age.  Her little mind is so busy making connections, and you never know what she is going to pop out with next.  For example, on the way home today, she said, "When boys come to my house, I'm going to punch them."  What what?  She's a trip.  If I'm wearing black, she pretends that I'm Ursula (of Little Mermaid fame) and runs away.  Obnoxious, yes.  Hilarious, yes (for a while).  Tonight after John got her out of the bath, she ran around the house naked and hid in the pantry.  Dripping wet.  Crazy kid.

Anyhow, Becca's third year has been a good one for us.  She's done pretty well health-wise, she's made a LOT of progress on eating, she's grown fairly well, she's made progress in school, and she'd getting close to being fully pee-potty trained (not so much with the poop).  Considering where we were 4 years ago, praying for a few wonderful minutes with our sweet girl, I'll take every single one of the 2,101,290 minutes she's been in this world...even the obnoxious ones.

Some recent shots of 3 in all its glory...

Sleeping in her humongous big girl bed, passed down from another Rebecca at church!

Modelling her Big Sister shirt she made with Miss Becca

Tinker Becca

Ready to swim!

Strawberry pickin' with Grandma

First braid!  Her hair is finally long enough!

Becca and Daddy pretending to be Lady and the Tramp.  That's amore!

Even Though She's Very Small...

...inside she's very TALL!  

After Trunk-or-Treating as a very SCARY MONSTER at church and dancing as Tinkerbell at ballet, Becca finally settled on (with my, um, encouragement) being Madeline for real trick-or-treating.  I was really excited about this idea because she's been on a Madeline kick lately, she's as adorable, tiny and mischievous as Madeline, and it was the warmest of the three costumes, which became important by Halloween night.  It was an assembled-at-home costume, thanks mostly to the adorable blue wool coat we picked up at our church's clothing giveaway this fall.  Add a peter pan collar and a red bow, and voila! - Madeline.  Or, at least, close enough to Madeline to convince a 3-year-old.

We had a great time hanging out with our friends (and Becca's other family), the Lovells, where Halloween night is a BIG deal.  They don't mess around with the candy.  Here's what they had to give out:

And, yes, those are full-sized candy bars!  And, yes, if you answer your question correctly, you get several of them!  Tammy is 3rd-grade teacher, so she knows just what kind of question each kid ought to be able to answer.  She even made me explain the difference between Arminianism and Calvinism.  Makes me think that the Board of Ordained Ministry might be well-served to pass out chocolate as they ask their questions.

But back to Becca.  She had a great time being Madeline...

I had a great time being a butterfly (and silly!)...

And John had a good time being...John!  (Actually, he wasn't feeling too hot, so he bailed shortly after we took Becca around the cul-de-sac.)

Becca even picked up a little French!

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Animal Cruelty

And I encouraged it. 

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Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny didn't really get her act together to stop by our house on Saturday, the day that she normally visits pastors' kids, but she did manage to stop by during Becca's nap on Sunday.  Becca LOVES the Little People dollhouse she left for her!  

And Becca really got into finding the eggs that she and Kate dyed on Saturday!

Afterwards, we spent a lot of time saying, "Tank you, Eassa Bunny!" since Becca insists on thanking people (and bunnies, I guess) over and over and over and over and over.  She's a grateful kid.  :)

Easter 2011

Pretty girl in her pretty dress...maybe not a deeply theological treatise on Easter, but, really, nothing drives home the point of Jesus' victory of life over death to me more than a beautiful, growing girl who was supposed to die.  Instead, she dresses up purty for Easter and exclaims, "Jesus is ayive!  And painting!" while ringing her alleluia bells.  That's sermon enough for me.  Now exactly WHAT Jesus is painting, I have no idea.  Couldn't be much prettier than this:

When I started putting this bow on her, she said, "Too big!"
I told her that no bow is too big for Easter.  :)

Self-portrait with Mommy

Buster is jealous that he didn't get a pretty Easter dress.

HAPPY EASTER!

And remember my favorite liturgical public service announcement: 

Easter is a season, not a day - so I'm not late!  :)

Things I Forgot To Say: Becca's First Boat Ride

I've mentioned before that my parents now live in a magical fairyland of old people active retirees on Tellico Lake.  Originally, they bought a ski boat to take out on the lake, but the soon traded it in for a pontoon boat because, according to my mother, "It's hard to drink wine in a ski boat."  I love everything about that statement.  Pontoon boats, as luck would have it, are also a lot better suited to the youngest of passengers, which is important because Becca's got 7 cousins on that side.  Several weeks after her g-tube surgery, on Labor Day, we finally got to take Becca on her first boat ride.  Enjoy - we did!

All suited up (in double layers to stay warm) and ready to go! 

Gotta protect those eyes!

Y'all take a break.  I got this.

And now I'll take a break.

Becca liked lying on the floor of the boat.
I joined her and counted it as sensory integration therapy -
lots of vestibular stimulation throughout the ride!

Getting her first driving lesson with Granddaddy

Now we're having fun!

But not as much fun in the water.
The kiddo has so little meat on her bones that she gets cold REALLY quickly.

The view from the boat.  And, no, Grandma and Granddaddy's
house is not *quite* as nice as these.  :)

This picture makes me smile.
SuperDad and his mother-in-law, lounging on the noodles.

Granddaddy rescued Becca from the water and helped her warm back up.

She then went about exploring the boat a bit more...and found this storage cabinet.

SuperMom was worn out and took advantage of the
opportunity for a nap in the sun.  Nice.

Back at the house, hanging out on the porch...and trying to decide
 if she should let Mommy open the door to join her.

Baby Rosie

Santa brought Becca a very special baby!  Meet baby Rosie, the newest Bitty Baby in the Hill house (the first, of course, being Becca).  (And yes, the Reverend Cheap-O (that'd be me) did actually purchase a brand-name baby doll.  I mean, how could I not?  They named the entire line after our Itty Bitty!)  Becca loves baby Rosie and, frankly, I love her, too.  Maybe if this whole conception thing never does work out, I'll get one for me, too. But I digress.  Actually, that's about all I have to say about Rosie.  Can you believe that?  Few words from me...who knew it was possible?

In sum: Rosie is pretty swell, and her presence somehow makes Becca even cuter.  See for yourself:

She's fascinated by Rosie's fancy open-and-close eyes.

And she loves to de-clothe her.  Theoretically, she likes to change her clothes, but she
hasn't figured out how to put them on her...so she gets her nekked, and I dress her.

The moment before Becca, of course, tipped over backwards.

Again with the eyes...or maybe doll CPR.

  

Recalled stroller or user error?

Awwww...

I can't get over how old Becca looks here!

What every newborn needs: a cup of water, a spoon, and a hamburger bun.

Christmas in Pictures

Our Christmas celebration got off to a rough start, what with 352 miles to drive after Christmas Eve services and a significant (for the south) snowstorm that hit us just as we hit the road.  Even after our sage senior pastor suggested we skip the second service and leave a few hours earlier than planned, we ended up in the middle of the storm.  It was a heckuva drive, with the car loaded down, 2 dogs in the back, Becca on her feeding pump (she threw up, of course), and (eventually) several inches of snow on the interstate.  Though we were really hoping to make it to Ashland, Kentucky (John's home town) before Christmas morning, we ended up giving up on the east side of Lexington and spent the remainder of the night in a not-so-Best Western in Winchester.  We didn't have a crib for Becca, so she and I (tried) to sleep in a double bed together, while John attempted to keep the dogs in the other bed with him.  That didn't work so well...any of it...the dogs, the beds, the sleeping.  I think the low point was when Becca and I were laying in bed together, and she threw up on my face.  Merry Christmas, y'all. 

BUT - by the time we left the next morning (after a grand total of 3 hours of sleep), the mysterious Christmas plowmen had cleared the roads, and we had a fabulous trip from there on out.*  Here are some of the cuter moments of our week in Ashland.

Even though John's, you know, calling from God kept us from Nanny's house on Christmas Eve (and, believe me, a calling from God is about the only thing that gets you an excused absence from Nanny's), we did make it to town early enough on Christmas morning to join John's extended family for the tail end of the traditional Christmas breakfast and stocking-opening.  I intentionally left Becca in her p.j.'s when we left the hotel because every kid should open presents in their "jammies" (as Becca says) on Christmas morning.  

Becca loved playing with Nanny's decorations!

She was WAAAY into her stockings this year - literally and figuratively!

Becca is ALWAYS happy to see her Aunt Jen Jen - and to eat a lollipop!

We finally got to meet our newest cousin, baby Jillian, who was kind enough to
share one of her many Sing-a-ma-jigs with Becca.  Jillian is so adorable and cuddly!

As you can tell from this picture of John and the one of me above it, SuperDad and I were not feeling
so Super after our super-fun Christmas Eve.  Didn't phase Becca, though - especially since she had so
many other folks to pay attention to her!  She's in the background with Nanny and cousin Jayden.

After breakfast, we went back to Nana and G.G.'s house to open presents.  There were, um, a few packages to be unwrapped, especially in Becca's pile.  

Don't mind the reflective dog in the middle of the shot.  With 4 of them in the house,
they were in the middle of everything (but were very well-behaved, surprisingly!).

Becca liked all of her presents (and the process of opening them), but she really, really liked these
adorable slipper socks from Aunt Jen.  She just had to get up and dance around in them - so cute!
(It's not the greatest shot, but YOU try to take a picture of a dancing toddler!)

That evening, the extended family got together again for Christmas dinner at Nana and G.G.'s.  (The Hitchcock family doesn't mess around with holidays!  They like to celebrate as much as possible! :) )  I love this picture of Nana and her sister, Aunt Robyn, and their youngest grandgirls (as Nana likes to call them), Becca and Jillian.  (They may kill me for putting them on the blog, but I think they look sweet!)

The rest of the week was spent in general family togetherness, very laid-back.  It was wonderful!  John and I even got to sneak out and see TWO movies at the Ashland theater - where it's only $3 a pop for first-run movies!  Love that bargain!  Here are some highlights:

On Sunday morning, we got to attend church as a family, like normal people.
It was nice to  be back at South Ashland UMC, John's home church.
 Becca got to wear her Christmas dress again.  Here she is posing after church.

Aunt Robyn runs a salon and is great about making us beautiful when we visit.  This time,
 Becca got her first-ever Aunt Robyn haircut!  She did great - she really liked it!  Robyn
didn't take off much but she did rescue Becca from the emerging mullet.  

Again, Becca had fun playing with the decorations, especially the jingle bells.
You can also see how much better her hair looks now!

There was lots of lazing about, and Becca bounced from lap to lap.  If you were sitting down,
you could bet that you'd have a dog lying near you in about 2 seconds. I think that's Katie,
one of the scotties, behind John, and Sasha T. Dog on his right.

There was also lots of eating out, during which Becca cooperated less and less
as the week progressed.  I mean, who wants to sit still long enough for us slow
grown-ups to order, wait and eat?  Guess I can't blame her.

And this is unbelievable - there is a ROCKET in the Ashland mall!
Who knew that Eastern Kentucky had such a well-developed space program?
Needless tosay, this ride was definitely worth its 75 cents!

 * I should say that we had a great trip from here on out even though all 3 of us ended up sick.  I mention it because it means that every single time we have travelled with Becca, she has gotten sick or sicker than she was.  What's up with that??  John and I had nasty sinus/cold stuff, and Becca's cough and cold got even worse, which made for a good bit of middle-of-the-night vomiting.  But at least it wasn't in my face anymore.  I count that a win.